Brussels, 25/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Stefan Füle said on Thursday 24 November that preparations for talks on the in-depth and comprehensive free trade area with Georgia are in their final stage. The Commission, he added, is assessing implementation of the preconditions, further to a meeting with Georgia's State Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Girogi Baramidze. During their meeting, the minister informed Füle of the progress made by Georgia for preparing to begin talks on the free trade zone, an integral part of the talks underway on the EU association agreement. Füle also underlined that it is important for Georgia to begin looking further ahead than the talks on the free trade zone, and to continue crucial reform and the effort to modernise the country in order to come more in line with the EU.
The two men also discussed implementation of visa facilitation and readmission agreements between Georgia and the EU. The commissioner explained that “if Georgia continued with the effective implementation of the Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements, a visa free dialogue with Georgia could be opened, possibly before the summer”.
Füle pointed out that the EU partner countries most committed to reform will receive more advantages from the Union, according to the “more for more principle”. Such benefits are expected to include closer political association, deeper gradual economic integration in the EU market and increased EU support more generally, including in the domain of assistance, the European Commission stressed. (CG/transl.jl)